NEWS - Sunday, February 14, 2010
Original Guitar Hero Publisher RedOctane Shut Down
Earlier today we heard that Activision was laying off staff, and it’s now being reported that among the casualties is RedOctane, the company best known as the publisher of Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2, prior to being acquired by Activision in 2006. We learned yesterday, during Activision’s fourth quarter results conference call, that the company plans on dramatically reducing the number of Guitar Hero SKUs it releases from 25 in 2009 to less than 10 in 2010. That no doubt played a significant role in the closure of RedOctane.
Not everyone at RedOctane is actually out of a job. According to Kotaku, those who work on the Guitar Hero hardware -- RedOctane is where the series’ signature guitar controllers were created -- will retain their jobs and will now report directly to Activision. The remaining RedOctane staffers, which number in the 30-40 range, will be out of a job.
Kotaku also reports that Underground Development, the developer of Guitar Hero: Van Halen, BMX XXX, and the Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX series, will see a number of layoffs, too.
Source: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177
